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[Music] to read again this morning I'm not going to go back over chapter 1 um and we'll talk a little bit about this as we move forward this forward this morning most of your scriptures and and
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we had a little conversation Aon and I about this last night the the uh travails of versification SL chapter um and artificial interruptions
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I frankly think the the first sort of thought that we have in Amos really goes from Amos 1 down to what is Amos 3 in
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your Bibles there is a natural division there it seems to conclude one thought and and begin another starting at chapter 3 I'm not going to read all of one and two I'm going to pick
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up um in what is chapter 2 in your um copies of the scriptures I'm just going to start from from 2 verse one although Frank I think it's in the middle of the
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judgments on the Nations but we've been we've been talking about those judgments so I won't uh strain your patience by going back over all of them this morning um I'm going to pick up in two verse one
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and I am reading what is effectively uh it's probably pretty close to The New American Standard but with some exceptions and there's probably one in
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particular near the end that will catch your ear if you're following along in your copies of the scriptures but beginning in uh 2 verse one of of Amos thus says
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Yahweh for three transgressions of Moab and for four I will not turn it back for his burning of the bones of edom's King into lime I will set fire to Moab and it
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shall consume the citadels of curio and Moab shall die in an uproar in shouts and in the sounds of the Ram's Horn and I will cut off the judge from her midst and all her princes I will slay with him
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says Yahweh thus says Yahweh for three transgression of Judah and for four I will not turn it back for their despising of the law of Yahweh and his statutes they did not keep and their
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false things LED them astray after which their fathers had gone and I will set a fire in Judah and it shall consume Jerusalem citadels thus says Yahweh for three
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transgressions of Israel and for four I will not turn it back for there selling the just man for silver and the needy for sandals who trample the head of the needy into the Dust of the ground and
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pervert the way of the meek a man and his father go into the same girl to profane my holy name and on clothes taken in pledge they lie down beside
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every Altar and wine from fines they drink in the house of their God yet I had destroyed the Amorite before them who is as tall as the height of the
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Cedars and as sturdy as the Oaks and I destroyed him from the fruits above to his roots below and I brought you up from the land land of Egypt and led you in the wilderness 40 years to take hold
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of the amorites land and I raised up your sons to be prophets and from among your young men to be nazarites is this not so oh sons of Israel but you gave
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the nazarites wine to drink and the prophets you charge saying prophesy not behold I will squash you in your place as a cart overfilled with sheaves is buckled and flight will perish from the
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Swift and the strong shall not summon his power and the warrior shall not deler his life The Bowman shall not stand and the fleet footed will not escape the horsemen shall not deliver
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himself and whose heart is staunch among the Warriors naked shall flee in that day says
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Yahweh we come to the judgment on Israel and I do want to move the ball forward a little bit here this morning and and get into the judgment on Israel because the The Book of Amos is delivered the message is delivered to Israel as we
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have pointed out thus far um and I do think the judgment on the Nations and the judgment on Israel is tied together as I said I think Amos 1 chapters 1 and two as it is written in your scriptures
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is is one thought that has all of this in scope at a at a pace um there is a template though that we've seen here and and I wanted to put this
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up on the board again not to rehash all of the um judgments that we've already discussed and some of the details there but again I want to talk about this
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format that we're seeing in here and again God does not do form letters this is not dear user um it is a poetic device that's being used here as Amos is
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delivering this message it is intended to have that drumbeat you're supposed to hear the repetition um I think the most important thing that that comes out of
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this is honestly this um a lot of your copies of the scripture will have Lord in small caps which most of you recognize means Yahweh I think we
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do ourselves a little bit of a disservice in avoiding the use of of the proper name sometimes um I think here in in Amos in particular he's hitting them
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with this drum beat of Yahweh Yahweh Yahweh particularly because these are the the words that are given to him it's coming from Yahweh it is the authority of the god of Moses as we're going to
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see here in his his when we get to Israel what is he reminding of them of he's reminding them that it was his power his action that brought them out of Egypt his action that brought
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them into this land in the first place the name is here but it's over and over and over again what you get from Amos in these judgments is I Yahweh will I will
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it is that immediate action of Yahweh in these circumstances and so we've talked a little bit about the um you know the three transgressions and for four uh few
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of the commentators spent some time wrestling with the fact that you have somewhere between three and seven transgressions mentioned in here and then in most of the cases you get one
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particular sin that is highlighted most of them you get one sort of summation I don't know why that would bother anybody but I guess some people need more things to write in their commentaries um
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frankly it's it's that idea of the overflowing as we've talked about before that they have reached the the total limit of the extent to which God is willing to bear
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with them and they have overflowed it and then he he highlights a particular sin we've talked about the the sort of inter relation of those I will say as we sort of followed them around the map I
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had said I didn't see a particular order to them at least in terms of geography or in terms of the chronology of the history I do think now though in in a little more digging there is something
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that divides them a little bit which is that the first three judgments in order that we go through are unrelated by blood to the Israelites the next three
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are all sons of Abraham in some format so the ammonites the moabites in particularly the were all descended from Abraham in some Branch
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there along the way they had that sort of blood or cousin relation to the excuse me so you have those next three related then you come to Judah and finally you get to Israel so as we've
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already described you you are sort of working your way from further distance closer in and in to to Israel and I think there's there's two elements here
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one of which is the you know you come down to Jesus's day you have the well we have Abraham as our father it's not really going to help those people in Jesus's day it didn't
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help them in this day either having Abraham as your father is actually an increase of culpability we talked a little bit last week about the idea of culpability the idea that this message
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is being delivered to Israel Israel is receiving this message has some culpability has some responsibility for What's Happening Here in relation to their power in relation to their um you
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know it is very much the to whom much is given much is required you're going to see that as we move in but when you look at the sort of next three particularly the
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being the descendants of Esau they had knowledge they had they were not the same chosen the way that the Israelites were chosen but they were in some respects only a shade way um you
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also have the the distinction um that we see in Deuteronomy as we've already heard from from Aaron's study these are also a number of the Nations they were specifically told to leave alone because
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God had set their boundaries set their borders told him to leave them there um so as we look at this and we see these sort of brackets here and we move
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through them the what I want to bring out here I think there are a couple of historical points that we we will look at just briefly this morning but again my purpose in this study is as we open
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the prophets as you guys are reading your Bibles and and moving through these things it's not that some of you will enjoy the histories more than others some of you will see this and that and various things but I want to bring
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out again why do we read this why do we here now read this there are theological points embedded in throughout the prophets um we've already talked about
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where we see the the uh description of Jesus starting um and reading through all of the prophets and explaining where it is revealed about himself so the things that we see here about God are
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also by extension about Christ the nature the purpose the way he is engaging with them so I want to bring out a couple of theological points here there's two little pieces here um this
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says Yahweh is omitted in a couple of them you've probably noticed there are only um three of these as we move through here I'll be completely honest I don't
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100% know what to do with that other than I think where he's leaving this off is probably linking a couple of those pieces together it may have been in the way that Amos has delivering this
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message we're not told how we are given an indication in in seven that he is apparently doing this verbally before the people um that these may have been the sort of brackets of the individual
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messages that he was delivering that he stood up and said thus says Yahweh and when he concludes with he says Yahweh that was the end of one address and then another began um this opening though with the
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thus says Yahweh makes it clear that this word is from God um it is from Yahweh the Covenant God of Abraham and frankly the God that was revealed to Moses and I think that's the the driving
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point that we're going to hone in on is it's not just um the god of Abraham it is again the name Yahweh was red R to Moses as he was sent down to redeem the
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people out of Egypt this is the Covenant God this is the god who made this um engagement with them this Covenant with them you will see this of course as I'm
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sure most of you are aware this thus says Yahweh or thus saith the Lord if you're King James type um is of course a frequent term in the prophets it is a term of authority used by the prophets
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again Amos is the first probably as far as We Know writing Prophet um so in some ways he's he's one of the first to write this down in this way but I think it's
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really God's message God's uh signature if you like saying this is this is my message this is what I'm delivering additionally if you kind of
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look over the the rest of the prophets this thus says Yahweh has a tendency not universally but mostly is in relation to sins when you get a thus says Yahweh
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it's usually in regards uh to a reproof or to a rejoinder regarding sins this um for three transgressions and for four again is an overflow one of the
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commentators writes in the Hebrew the it's almost an idiomatic phrase meaning sins upon sins many sins just it's just that totality suffusing
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total depravity if you like um that the sins are are just throughout um additionally I've written this and we've we've just sort of very
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briefly talked about it in the Hebrew most of your English translations and again your English translations are trustworthy I don't say this to to sew any doubt for you but in the Hebrew it
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is unspecified it doesn't say punishment it doesn't say wrath it just says I will not turn it back the it is I think
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deliberately unspecified there is an element of Menace in the uh non-specificity of what is coming to you and I don't mean it in a why kind of way I mean it in the sense
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of the you know we have these idiomatic phrases in English if you say you know you'll get what's coming to you there's an implication there that it's not a good thing that's coming to
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you it's the same sort of thing here it is absolutely that sort of term in the Hebrew is I will not turn it back I will not restrain the due result of Your
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Action I will not turn it back um then we move to this I will send I will consume God takes
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immediate possession he is the agent of these actions it is you will see uh in other prophets if you look at other places particularly the one that always Springs to my mind is habach subjection as the Lord is telling him I'm going to
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use this nation as a tool on them you don't get that here you don't get the intermediate agents that God is going to send upon them you have some hints we read here you know the sound of of the
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Rams Horn you have the the definite idea that there's a battle coming to them but God just takes a very direct action here I will send I will consume I the Lord
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will accomplish this and do this so Yahweh is the agent of the punishment he is the one who is delivering he is the one who is sending
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it on them um the sending of fire you have a sort of echo in some sense of the Sodom and Gomorrah story of of sending fire to consume of burning it down um
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the couple of things I want to pick out here unless there's any questions on the sort of General format before I move into a few of the specifics um I just wanted to touch a
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couple of again theological points that I think we see in the um elements as we move forward the prophecy to Gaza here in verse uh 1 verse 6 again we've talked
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about Gaza as being the sort of Citadel the primary city of philistia the Philistines have been long since a thorn in the side of the nation of Israel from the the days of the Kings
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on down in this prophecy to Gaza it concludes with this term as he cuts off the Dwellers from the Valley and then it says um I will turn my hand in verse 8 I
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will turn my hand against erron and the Philistine remnants Shall Perish says Lord Yahweh it is probably in your translation the Lord God it is it is that term of sovereignty or
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lordship we've talked about the large sense of these judgments against the Nations being actions of genocide or actions of carrying off whole
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populations and here we have God saying of Felisa of Felisa okay I'm going to remove you you were so involved in carrying people off and selling them into slavery I The
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Sovereign Lord the Lord who sets the boundaries of the Nations who raises up Kings and puts them down I have determined you're done bisa will not remain there will be nothing left it is
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very much the sort of turning on their own head the things that they were subjecting other people to additionally here this is the first time we see it here a number of places
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in Amos he uses this idea of the remnant um he picks up this term of Remnant and here it is obviously in relation to Gaza that there is no Remnant left when we
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think of Remnant theology I frankly think about it in terms that you know that Paul uh puts for us in Romans and then of course in the original story in First Kings of Elijah right that uh that
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he protests to the Lord that they have killed everyone who believes in Yahweh and I alone am left and God says to him what it's not just you I have 7,000 who
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have not bowed the knee the idea of the remnant and that's that term is in there that same word Remnant I have that remnant of 7,000 that have not bowed the knee to knee to baale Amos will pick this up you'll see
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it also in Isaiah you'll see it in a number of the prophets used in various ways but just be aware of that um term here it is the exact same term that there is no no Remnant left of of
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philistia there will be nothing to remain no no hanging uh threads no taals left over and it's punctuated this is the
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only time you know we've talked about this says Yahweh shows up a couple of times here this is the one time that we have Lord Yahweh I think it is underscoring or punctuating the
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sovereignty of God over the removal of these nations as he's objecting to them their indictment again is is that they are removing other populations they are striking out um whole Generations they
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are attempting to remove The Offspring so that there is no Remnant in these other nations God says so it shall be to you you will have no Remnant left I the Lord and and Sovereign over this um just
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again to hit some highlights here James correctly pointed out in one of our early studies the um transgressions against TI where it says they have not recalled the Covenant of brother hood
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that is of course in relation to hyam of Ty that you read in the the chronicle of both David and Solomon um was friendly with David had an actual formal treaty
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with Solomon that we read about there in First Kings um so you can see those things in First Kings 5 that is that that relation um and I'm not going to go through all of these
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items there is historical background to most of these although some of the unspecified carryings off are less um identifi I did want to highlight Edom again we've
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talked about Edom um the descendants of Esau we read in Deuteronomy 2:4 as uh Moses is addressing them at Mount Hebron as they're getting ready to move he says
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of Edom your brothers the people of Esau um there's a contrast here if we read the the the the um the words that are are spoken of by
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Yahweh in in verse one verse 11 of chapter 1 for three transgressions of Edom and for four I will not turn it back for pursuing his brothers with the sword and stifling his Compassion or
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literally laying waste to his compassion his anger tore continually and he kept up his wrath unending the constant bitter anger of the of the
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descendants of Esau against Jacob as being the chosen one the unending Wrath the the Relentless pursuit of vengeance is 100% contrasted here with
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the forbearance of God that God himself has borne with you for three transgressions and for four that he is willing to forgive that he is willing to be patient that he is willing to be
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loving kind because of his nature he is contrasting Edom here of saying you haven't got any of it what little you had you laid waste to your compassion it
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is a it is a contrast to the nature of God it reminded me of the parable or the story of the servant who uh of course owed his master the 10,000 talents or
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whatever it was I don't remember the exact amount and Is Forgiven that amount and then goes and beats up his fellow slave who effectively owes him 20 bucks right that the forgien the forgiveness
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was so massive and yet he is not willing to forgive those of uh you know less crime against him the the servant who
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was forgiven and then goes and and chases down his fellow
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servant so as we move then into and we've talked about this ever so slightly as I'm linking it into Israel I want to draw out draw out the crimes again of the Nations that we've talked about we've we've looked at
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this term the transgressions almost the crimes against humanity the genocides the carryings off then you come to Judah immediately preceding the the judgment on Israel and what is judah's
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crime God Judah has forsaken the things of God judah's crime is that it turned its back on the law of Yahweh or despised the law of Yahweh and did not keep the statutes that they let the idols the the gods of the Nations around
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them the gods of these places that they were supposed to be opposed to they have let them lead them astray have infiltrated the the nation have infiltrated the people of
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God Judah interestingly enough I think gets basically the same treatment it's not particularly singled out other than by proximity to Israel in terms of the judgments on the Nations it marks number
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seven on the list as we go down them but it is treated in large measure with the same relative brevity that that Yahweh gives to the other nations Judah is wrapped up
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among them and yet its crime is not called out in the same way its crime is called out as forsaking the law of Yahweh I think we're looking at an
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escalation of the crimes that to God what they have done the Nations the Six Nations proceeding have done to each other is a violation of the laws of
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human decency if you like of the laws that every man ought to know as we read in in Romans a law unto themselves that man knows not to murder each other man
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knows not to carry each other off these are sort of basic ideals of humanity and yet now we're moving closer to home we're moving up in the level of criminality because you had the law of
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God and you broke that one that's where the the escalation is coming in it seems to us perhaps a smaller thing to have turned your back
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on on the law of Moses or to have followed After idols as opposed to killing whole populations but for God it's not so it is a higher law it is a greater responsibility that you have
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fractured that you have have transgressed does that make sense um and as we move into Israel Israel's indictment is of course much
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longer than those against the other nations his concern here as we move into
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is details effectively that are joining these things these things together the way they're treating one another is a violation of both laws of decency and the law of Yahweh that you
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are treating each other horribly on both fronts effectively as we read here and I'm going to unless there's a question I'm
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going to start into the individual portions of the Judgment here he starts off here um for selling the just man for silver and the needy
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for sandals the term here just man is more than likely some of your translations may say righteous man um
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that's not an unfair way to translate that it has probably the legal sense the man who has been declared just by the law you're still
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selling him out effectively for a bribe you're you're ignoring the justice and still selling him out making money off of him by by condemning him in this way
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um and the needy for a pair of sandals it's almost the um you know they they need little they are needy they need clothing they need they need the small things in life and you're
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willing to trade away a whole human life for a pair of sandals could it also refer to both top and bottom of the social spect here I know many times when a man is called a
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righteous man he happens to be a welltoo man who is doing right to his fellow man the rightous for silver the needy for a of sandals I don't there's I think it's possible um there's
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not a lot that I read in terms of the social status of the just man there there was a lot more said I guess in terms of the Hebrew that it was was more than likely the legal term that's fair
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though I think that that we often see that the righteous man or the just man as being one who had power over someone else and behaved rightly um as opposed to the needy who effectively have no
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power have no um you know I guess it's the idea of the sort of the punching up versus punching down um they they couldn't do anything for you and still
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you're grinding them into the Dust um and that's very much where he goes here is the the trampling of the head of the needy into the dust of the ground perverting the way of the meek again um
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some of your translations may say poor there the word is the same word that you'll read in in the Psalms as Meek it is the Meek um those who are um humble
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in spirit those who are are um says Afflicted Afflicted is is I wouldn't necessarily use Afflicted
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actually it's it's not necessarily in the sense of of suffering it just is in the sense of those who are minding their own business causing no trouble you know the the meek I think
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is is the correct term in the sense of being unassuming and unoffending in that way um the man and and his father go into
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the same girl to profane my Holy Name there is a lot written about this and if you if you read any of the commentators on in Amos there's a lot of people that want to tie this back to Temple prostitution um particularly As you move
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forward and you get some of the the railings against the other gods I don't think that's it actually um and at least Robert alter agrees with me
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um many of the other commentators claimed that this had to do with temple prostitution and there was all of this sort of social uh things that you can read about in Kings and Chronicles of
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the various um sexual immoral it that that entailed upon the various gods and the way that they did those things this is really I think more in the sense of
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um it's just an inappropriate relationship that literally it profanes the name of God that that it is almost a form of incest um it it goes the my
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brain went to um wow his name is just fled my brain David's son um Absalom taking his father's concubines on the roof
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of the palace in the sight of the people it is that kind of of usurpation of appropriate relationships or of of of authority the father and the son should
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not be in that conjoined in that way it is it is effectively a conflict um and it is stated here very plainly in the Hebrew
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that it is done in order to profane the name of God it is profaning the name of God that is the purpose of it um the clothes taken in pledge you guys will of
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course be familiar with the uh Statute in in Deuteronomy that says you know uh I didn't write down the specific wording but it says you know if your brother gives you his cloak in uh effectively as
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collateral against his loan don't keep it all night give it back to him so he can be warm when he lays down right and then he'll give you your your collateral back in the morning don't be that kind
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of grinder and here he's saying not only are they that level of grinding against what Moses said they're taking it even further they're using those cloaks that they've taken in pledge as the as the
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ground mat for their immorality effectively they're using that as their they're they're they're just enjoying hurting their fellow man this
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way by taking that in pledge and using it as their bed when they're committing these immoralities um the wines from fine is a little bit of an odd um let's see
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what my new American Standard says with it um drink the wine of those who have been fined it's fairly succinct in the Hebrew it's it's literally basically when you got in trouble um you know you could pay it in shekels you could pay it
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in silver you could pay it in wine and they're taking the wine that they earned as as fines and getting drunk with it they don't need it it's not wealth for them they're just wasting it effectively
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and and getting wasted with it um and you know we are a Reformed Baptist congregation I am not a te Toler but you will see things and it's here again in this particular section of Amos you will
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also see it in a number of the other prophets um drunkenness and the sort of debauchery associated with it is often a theme of the immorality of the Israelites and it comes up more than
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once here in Amos so it is very much that idea of of being debauched with the wine um they drink in the house of their god
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um whose translations have capital G in the house of their
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God it is unclear in the Hebrew my personal take on it was would be that it should not be a capital G it is just Elohim it is the same um that you'll see in in the Psalms where it
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says they they followed after other gods it's just the generic term I think given the context the things that he's talking about here being led astray the altars
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he's talking about the house of the god they've picked out their sort of favorite God whose house they're always getting drunk in that's the god in view here not the God not
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Yahweh this is Israel this is these are the Northern tribes these are the the false jerob the first yeah there is no
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House of Yahweh there is not no no and and so you know there is a sense in even which if you had in the house of their God capital G it would still be
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incorrect because you're in the wrong territory so if you've built a house you've still done it wrong but I frankly think it's small G it's it's God in the sense of an idol
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they've picked out a God they're in the house of their God Abraham wondering why to Judah M he says you have
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allies so Judah certainly has cability for their own crimes and and he is inditing them there but again it's the message to Israel um the message is being delivered to Israel Chuck you had your hand up
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judah's different because Judah still retains the levitical priesthood and the temple right and you read the Chronicles that after the
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Rebellion members of every other tribe immigrated to Judah from from the northern tribes Israel started out in idolatry with the
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two false gods two Cales Israel continued in idolatry that was that would and and that idolatry now I think what what a is saying is true if you if
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you reject the statutes of God you will have all of the the social oppression uh abuse all of the things that the prophets rail against are to be
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emic to any people that are away from the law of God but Judah remain and judah's judah's punishment is going to be different because it's through Judah
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that the Messianic line is being preserved right preserved right so you got to remember Judah had Jerusalem Judah had the temple Judah had the levitical priesthood Israel had none
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of those you sorry go ahead I also point out that at this time Judah had a king was after Yahweh but it says of that the high places were not removed right so if
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we if we go back to the Chronicles and we look at the relative differences there isn't there is a point there I will make two points on that score which is to say I I take your point and I
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think you're correct in the sense that Israel Israel isn't being indicted for in Amos largely the social sins that
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they are committing against each other Hosea as far as as we know in a very similar time frame is inditing them for a lot of the sort of religious issues that they had at the same time Judah is
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treated differently we talked about this a little bit uh earlier when we talked about Israel being sent into what is typically called the Exile except Israel doesn't really come back from that Israel is effectively dispersed among
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the Nations and becomes the diaspora in large amount whereas Judah is the one that later has elements of all 12 tribes Judah is in the plan of God effectively
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The Remnant to bring the remnant back up I will say though moving on in the prophets again we're looking at Amos but when you look down the line of the prophets as we go forward this gets them
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in trouble because you will find later on um they will say aha we have Jerusalem aha we have the temple we're safe and God will send prophets to them
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and say is that what you think it was Jerusalem and the temple that's what kept you kept you safe they this causes them problems down the line I guess it occurs to
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prob instruct them is he is the Lord trying to be gracious to Israel trying
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people not sure so an interesting point um that I have seen a couple of times in a number of the commentators actually titled this at least more than one titled this particular section uh judgment on God's chosen
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people okay Judah is also God's chosen people and they're the ones who actually remain there is an element in which the sending of a prophet is a form of Grace
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in the sense that this is made clear to you we we we have talked about there is instruction in it and when we get down to chapter 9 there's a couple of verses at the end of that Oracle that concludes
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the book that does offer hope that offers a an element of those who survive take the following lesson out of it mostly though it's bad mostly this is
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a most of you are not going to make it out of here Amos is not the same as some of the other prophets where you will read the elements of the um you know the
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the picture of the the bride that the Lord finds effectively on the side of the road in terrible condition nurses her back to health close you're not getting that out of Amos so much Amos is
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almost entirely the things you've done wrong and the instruction about it um with a little bit near the end again there again there is yeah there is a little bit of of a
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Grace in the sense of sending a prophet to them and giving them the instruction but it's by and large it's too late for Israel this is really the sort of
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sort of the you had and and just to to clarify one point Chuck is correct in the sense that the what is called the temple cult the actual sacrifice and the things that
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were happening was down here but the Levites were intended to be dispersed throughout teaching they were not without those who should have instructed them in the law that's where he's coming down to
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later in this judgment just to skip ahead a little bit in the last couple of minutes that we have he goes through the the conquest of Canaan that we talked about a little bit
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he goes through thee it is by my power I Yahweh brought you up into the land land of the the Amorite I Yahweh brought you out of Egypt it was my power it was my
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hand that did these things for you additionally now that you were in the land I blessed you in the following way I raised up prophets I gave you nazarites those who were walking effectively a narrow path as an example
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to the people that's the idea here is that the not that the nazarites were necessarily holier than but they were also an example in your body of ones who
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had constricted themselves to follow closely after Yahweh and you told the prophets to shut up you were so drunk and wasted that you just everybody's got to drink the nazarites
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got a drink everybody's got to drink all of this stuff so so they had the the the priests who should have instructed them they had the prophets they had the
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nazarites among them and they pushed back on all of it they rejected everything have to remember what Paul says in Romans that not all Israel is
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Israel reading in the prophets is the historical reality of that statement M even though they are the physical descendants of Abraham Isaac and
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Jacob Paul makes it clear that that's not what not what happs counts his faithfulness to the law of Yahweh and again Israel started out
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in idolatry and went downhill from there and to say there I guess I would say to say they are still God's people I'm not sure scripture backs that up
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think I think he because he has a Remnant even there why bother selling Ty anything why bother mentioning anything to Damascus uh you know what's the point of of speaking the you know why why
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preach because it is Grace it is the grace of God there is a Remnant in Israel and we don't know but historically this preaching this prophesying may have led others to go
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south into south into Judah we don't know that but right and
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this is this is an excellent question and unfortunately I don't know if I can answer all of this in five minutes um I think it's a worthwhile thing for us to pick up on next time because it does get to an element of the this message is
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sent to Israel and in the context it had a meaning to Israel it is also written down for us again looking at amus as one of the earliest writing prophets is also written for us and for Judah and for all
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who came in between the 8th century and now so there is it was delivered unto Israel and it had a a a moment there for them but it was not only to Israel and
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so the instruction there I think Chuck's absolutely correct to say those who who Moved those who saw the writing on the wall to to reference another incident um
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you know could recognize what was coming and could flee to Judah could see could could turn and there were those both who Moved South Judah and also who who are
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scattered throughout the Nations that still could take the the message take the understanding take
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the what has gone wrong here the other element though I again to bring out a theological point on it God is Not unjust and I I think one of the reasons
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why Israel is getting such a detailed account of their crimes is to say what happens to happens to you you are culpable for
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completely we get the for three transgressions and for four and then usually one sin for other people I didn't go count them I'll be honest but you get more I think than four for
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Israel enumerated here the things that they're doing wrong in particularly as we go through the rest of the book I book I also read this in the sense of the
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effectively in the court of Heaven your crime is being read out to you for which you are being sentenced so there is a number of elements in there there there is a
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little bit of Hope for them there is a little bit of instruction for those who who flee before the coming wrath but by and large I think it is the message of the Prophet to say to
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them here's the crime now follows the sentence I want to read as we close this morning um later half of of Romans 10
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into 11 um not that you can ever actually break a thought in Romans because it all flows but he says here
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um I'm going to pick up in verse 16 I could keep backing up and up and up but I'm going to pick up in in Romans 10:1 16 he says however they did not all heal the good news for Isaiah said Lord who
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has believed our report so faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ but I say surely they have never heard have they indeed they have their voice has gone out into all the Earth
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and their words to the end of the world but I say surely Israel did not know did they first Moses says I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation by a nation without understanding I will
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anger you and Isaiah is very bold and says I was found by those who did not seek me I became manifest to those who did not ask for me but as for Israel he says all day long I have stretched out
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my hand to a disobedient and obstinate people I say then God has not rejected his people has he may it never be for I too am an Israelite a descendant of Abraham of The Tribe of Benjamin God has
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not rejected his people whom he fornew or do you not know what the scripture says in the passage about Elijah how he pleads with God against Israel Lord they have killed your prophets they have torn
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down your altars and I alone him left and they are seeking my life but what is the Divine response to him I have kept for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to ball in the same way then
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there has also come to be at the present time a Remnant according to God's gracious choice but if it is by Grace it is no longer on the basis of Works otherwise Grace is no longer
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Grace we go on there's so much that you can read in Romans but I think there's this element of it philistia and Gaza get the there will be no Remnant Israel
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doesn't have that there is a Remnant still preserved out of their tribes So to that extent this is the indictment of the all day long I'm stretching out my hands to the stubborn people we said in
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the very first uh lesson here the the was it out of Ezekiel I think it is where he says I AR I arose daily sending the prophets to you I got up early in
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the morning and I sent the prophets to you and you won't listen that's part of it is the again to whom much is given much is required to the extent that you have knowledge to the extent that you
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have power you have responsibility and here he is leaving them without excuse you know in detail what you've done wrong and you still won't turn I mean when we get to chapter 7 what is the
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response from the king's right-hand man it isn't to say Lord spare us it isn't like the king who turned his face to the wall and wept and was given 15 more years he says go home and pedal your
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prophecy there man stop bothering us that's the response of these people so that's a really cheery note to end on um but rather let us let us end on on
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Romans the the the recognition that God has chosen a people by his gracious choice we have the knowledge we have the understanding that he is embedded in in
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his scripture Let Us Praise Him commensurate with that understanding that he has given us let's close in
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father we do thank you for your word we thank you for your gracious condescension to us to give us so much we ask that you would strengthen us as we Avail ourselves of it that your word
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would be more precious to us than gold that it would be our joy and our Delight as it was for your psalmist that as your word is on our lips and on our hearts
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this morning in Praise In song in prayer and as it is preached and received by us we ask that you would bless it to have its appointed work that your people
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would be built up that your church would be Advanced that you would bless that word with the greatest power to do the things that you have appointed it to we
